‘SILVER NEMESIS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Nemesis and the Cybermen with the Seventh Doctor and Ace – Celebrating 25 Years of ‘Doctor Who’

After two TV instalments in the 25th anniversary season of ‘Doctor Who’, it’s time to check out the actual 25th anniversary story called ‘Silver Nemesis’. This three-part ‘Doctor Who’ story was broadcast on TV from the 23rd of November to the 7th of December 1988.

Following on from directing ‘The Happiness Patrol’ as a studio-bound story, director Chris Clough went on to direct ‘Silver Nemesis’ entirely on location. From watching it, it certainly feels like a breath of fresh air, and it feels reassuring as a ‘Doctor Who’ story.

With that said, there’s no denying that ‘Silver Nemesis’ is flawed, both as a ‘Doctor Who’ story and as a 25th anniversary story. In many respects, ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ is arguably better as a 25th anniversary story, deserving the slot more than ‘Silver Nemesis’.

But I can’t say I hate ‘Silver Nemesis’. Far from it. There are some fun concepts to enjoy throughout this three-part adventure, and it’s certainly far better than what was in ‘The Happiness Patrol’. Even Janet Fielding, Wendy Padbury and Sarah Sutton agree on that.

In the Season 25 Blu-ray box set, there are four versions of ‘Silver Nemesis’. Yes! Four versions! There’s the original three-part TV version of the story, the three-part Special Edition version, the omnibus edition of the Special Edition, and the 1993 extended VHS version.

For my review, I checked out the three-part Special Edition version, the Special Edition omnibus and the extended VHS version. It’s fascinating to check out the various edits to the story. I enjoyed the three-part Special Edition version more, as the edit is sharper than the TV version.

When ‘Silver Nemesis’ came out on DVD in 2010, fans complained that there wasn’t an extended version of the story to enjoy. I’m very thankful that I can enjoy ‘Silver Nemesis’ in four versions in the Season 25 Blu-ray box set, including their two extended versions.

But even then, the Special Edition doesn’t contain every scene, which is a shame, as there’s a special feature containing deleted scenes for the three-part Special Edition version. I would’ve thought the Special Edition version would have included everything in the tale.

The Special Edition omnibus is unique in how it puts together ‘Silver Nemesis’ in a 55-minute length. It edits out unnecessary scenes from the TV story, which includes the Queen and Windsor Castle scenes, the skinheads’ scenes, and Dolores Gray’s scenes.

I was informed about the extended VHS version of ‘Silver Nemesis’ by Timelord007 years ago. It contained an extended cut of the story and a behind-the-scenes making of documentary, produced by the US New Jersey Network, which can now be seen on Blu-ray.

I highly recommend the three-part Special Edition version of the story, especially when it contains very good CGI effects as well as extended and new scenes of the story. But if you have time to check out the omnibus and extended VHS versions, you’ll enjoy them.

To go into a little bit of background on ‘Silver Nemesis’, the writer for the story is Kevin Clarke. Now, as far as I’m concerned, this is Kevin Clarke’s first and only contribution to ‘Doctor Who’. Unless you count the ‘Silver Nemesis’ Target novelization as his second. 😐

As of 2025, he hasn’t been invited to write for Big Finish nor for the new TV series. I would warmly welcome another ‘Doctor Who’ story penned by Kevin Clarke, since despite the flaws to be found in this story, he delivers some pretty intriguing concepts. 🙂

It’s actually funny when hearing him recollect his memories of writing ‘Silver Nemesis’ in the ‘Industrial Action’ making-of documentary, as, apparently, when invited to write for ‘Doctor Who’, the only slot available was the 25th anniversary story slot for the season.

Kevin Clarke made out to script editor Andrew Cartmel that he could deliver the best 25th anniversary story without knowing what the story could be. It was on the spot that he pitched his idea to producer John Nathan-Turner in a meeting and he got away with it.

Apparently, the inspiration for ‘Silver Nemesis’ is asking the question, “Who is the Doctor?” and Kevin Clarke coming up with the idea that the Doctor is God but gets it wrong all the time. Now, over the years, I have poo-pooed the idea of the Doctor being God.

It was a notion I wasn’t entirely comfortable with. But on reflection, I can see what Kevin Clarke was trying to get at. In both the classic and the new TV series, there’s always been this aspect to the Doctor that he is somewhat God-like or seemingly Messiah-like.

This can be interpreted in many of Russell T. Davies’ writings in stories like ‘Last of the Time Lords’ where people declared his name in unison so that he can defeat the Master. This is also in Steven Moffat’s writings when concerning the Silence’s activities in the series.

And it’s not like I’ve been immune to the concept in my ‘Doctor Who’ stories. When I wrote my 60th anniversary story ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’, I’ve utilised the theme of faith when the Doctor’s friends place their faith in the various incarnations of the character. 🙂

Now, to be fair to John Nathan-Turner, he restrained Kevin Clarke from making it explicit that the Doctor is God when allowing him to write the story. And frankly, it would have spoiled the mysterious aspects of the Doctor’s character if he was revealed to be God. 😐

From the TV show’s beginning, the Doctor was set up as a mysterious character. Even when he was revealed as one of the Time Lords of Gallifrey, there was still this sense of mystery to him, especially when he embarked on adventures to rescue millions of lives.

So, to reveal him as God, especially for a 25th anniversary story, would have ruined the Doctor’s character. I’m glad it’s not explicitly stated, as we can all make our own guesses about who the Doctor is, whether we want to be believe that he’s God or not. 🙂

Frankly, the notion of Doctor being a god-like being who mucks it up is better, especially when you consider what goes on in ‘Silver Nemesis’. For you see, in this story, the Doctor receives a reminder for something he forgot to sort out involving Earth’s demise.

With Ace’s help, she and the Doctor embark on an adventure to sort out a devastating statue made of living metal that could potentially destroy the Earth. However, there are obstacles along the way, involving those who want to claim the alien statue themselves.

This involves Cybermen plus neo-Nazis and two Jacobean characters. As well as the story involving those three sets of villains as well as the Queen, Windsor Castle and skinheads, there’s also Courtney Pine and the Jazz Quartet at the TV story’s beginning. 🙂

Considering that ‘Silver Nemesis’ is the 25th anniversary story, it means it’s the ‘silver anniversary’ story. Therefore, when you have ‘silver’ in the story’s title, you got to have silver foes in it. Cue the Cybermen, as they happen to be silver themselves in the series.

It should also be noted that ‘Silver Nemesis’ is a complete departure from previous anniversary stories in ‘Doctor Who’. When you consider the 10th and 20th anniversary TV stories – ‘The Three Doctors’ and ‘The Five Doctors’ – they’re both multi-Doctor stories.

‘Silver Nemesis’ breaks the tradition of having this not be a multi-Doctor story, which is interesting and unusual to find at this point in the series’ history. It’s sort-of saying that you don’t have to do multi-Doctor stories every time you do an anniversary adventure. 🙂

‘The Two Doctors’ is a multi-Doctor story and yet that wasn’t made to celebrate a certain kind of anniversary. It was made with the intention of reuniting Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines with Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant in a thrilling adventure set in Spain.

I’ve held the belief that an anniversary story needs to celebrate a TV show or movie series’ history. But of course, other people have different interpretations on how to celebrate an anniversary year. You don’t necessarily have to repeat the same formula. 🙂

When it comes to a landmark year, you don’t have to do multi-Doctor stories every time. For the 30th, 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of ‘Doctor Who’, various authors have had their take on how to celebrate a landmark year, and it doesn’t have to be the same.

I suppose I’ve been able to get it out of my system with writing a multi-Doctor adventure in the form of ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’ to celebrate ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary. I’m currently looking forward to when I get to celebrate ‘Doctor Who’s 70th anniversary in 2033.

Going back to ‘Silver Nemesis’, it’s interesting how Kevin Clarke goes about celebrating ‘Doctor Who’s 25th anniversary by having a variety of elements in it. Some are obvious like the Cybermen making an appearance. Others aren’t so obvious, which is quite unique.

Would I say ‘Silver Nemesis’ was satisfying as a 25th anniversary celebration of ‘Doctor Who’? No. Far from it. But it’s been enjoyable to check out, especially with it featuring the Cybermen. I’m pleased the Doctor and Ace got to face Cybermen in this adventure.

Incidentally, ‘Silver Nemesis’ was part of a DVD box set of ‘Doctor Who’ stories about the Cybermen, including that and ‘Revenge of the Cybermen‘. I’m very surprised it wasn’t called ‘The Cybermen’ DVD box set when it was released back in August 2010. 😐

With that said, I don’t consider ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ and ‘Silver Nemesis’ the best in terms of a collection of Cybermen stories. It could be they were compiled like that due to the fact they were the remaining Cybermen TV stories not released on DVD by then.

It’s not helped by the fact that the Cybermen aren’t the dominant villains of the story. It’s more Lady Peinforte who’s the main villain. It’s a shame, since if ‘Silver Nemesis’ was a four-part story instead of a three-part story, the villains’ roles could’ve strengthened more.

Not just the Cybermen, but also the neo-Nazis, led by De Flores, which I’ll get into more later on in the review. With so many elements going on in this story, it’s quite a challenge to define who or what should be considered the main threat when watching the adventure.

I’ve had my DVD cover of ‘Silver Nemesis’ signed by the lovely Sophie Aldred when I saw her at the ‘Science of the Time Lords’ convention in Leicester in January 2016. It’s amazing to think that it’s nearly 10 years ago since I’ve had my DVD cover signed by her.

I had a lovely chat with Sophie about ‘Silver Nemesis’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ story as well as the Cybermen. At that same convention, I got to see Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred on Saturday before seeing Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton on the Sunday, which was nice.

Whilst I’ve not had my DVD cover of ‘Silver Nemesis’ signed by Sylvester McCoy, at least he has signed my Season 25 Blu-ray booklet at ‘Happy Who Year at the Playhouse’ in Epsom in January 2025. It’s so nice to have met Sylvester and Sophie in person anyway.

Going back to the story, the deadly statue made of living metal is contained inside a meteor. The meteor is contained inside a comet, I believe. 😀 The statue happens to be a Gallifreyan super-weapon, which was launched into outer space by the Doctor in 1638.

It’s when he met Lady Peinforte in Windsor in 1638, and the statue was carved in her image, bearing the name ‘Nemesis’. From watching it on first viewing, you might be a bit confused as to how all this is possible, especially as the exposition is quickly handled. 😐

I must admit, even from watching the story multiple times in its various forms, I can’t claim to fully comprehend what’s going on and how Lady Peinforte knows the Doctor so well. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to read Kevin Clarke’s novelization of the story someday.

Apparently, whoever controls the statue, they have the power of life and death over the entire universe. It’s why Ace and the Doctor need to stop the statue from falling into the wrong hands when confronting Lady Peinforte, the neo-Nazis and the Cybermen in this.

The living metal in question happens to be validium, created by Omega and Rassilon as the ultimate defence for Gallifrey. Why is it that validium sounds a lot like vibranium from the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’? Did Gallifrey and Wakanda ever exchange notes on metals?

The Nemesis status affects Earth’s history when coming into the planet’s orbit in multitudes of 25 years. This is before it ends up crashing in 1988. This is confirmed by the Mathematician in Lady Peinforte’s employ when he shares his calculations to her in 1638.

Mathematician: The comet Nemesis will circle the heavens once every twenty-five years.
Lady Peinforte: Yes.
Mathematician: (saddened) Its trajectory, however, is decaying.

Now this is an idea concerning the statue that I’m very hooked by, especially when you consider that it could’ve caused so much trouble in Earth’s history when it came into the planet’s orbit every 25 years. The Doctor clarifies this to Ace in ‘Part Two’ of the story.

Doctor: Listen, Ace. The Nemesis generates destruction. It affects everything around it. I launched it into space, but unfortunately with an orbit that brings it back to Earth every twenty-five years. Take the 20th century. It appeared in 1913.
Ace: The eve of the First World War.
Doctor: Twenty-five years later?
Ace: 1938.
Doctor: Hitler annexes Austria.
Ace: 1963?
Doctor: Kennedy assassinated.
Ace: 1988…

That’s rather clever in terms of Kevin Clarke’s writing. When you consider every 25 years in Earth’s history has been affected by the Nemesis statue in a negative way, it makes you wonder what else the statue could have affected throughout Earth’s history.

Now, of course, this is fiction, and we know that an alien statue didn’t cause the First World War nor President Kennedy’s assassination. But it makes you wonder what would have happened if alien intervention was responsible for things going wrong in our world.

It’s a pity the statue affecting Earth’s orbit in multitudes of 25 years doesn’t get explored enough in the TV story, as we don’t get to see it and it needs to be shown to us. Again, had this been a four-parter instead of a three-parter, this might have been accommodated.

Sylvester McCoy is great as the Seventh Doctor in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. He’s clearly found his footing as the Doctor by this point in the TV series. He’s able to balance the comedic aspects of his character with the mysterious aspects to him so well in this.

It’s quite a contrast to how he began in Season 24 with his stories being overly comedic. Now there are clearly comedic aspects to ‘Silver Nemesis’, but it’s not distracting, especially as the Doctor emphasises the dangers that the Nemesis statue is capable of.

This is shown when he and Ace confront De Flores and the neo-Nazis at the end of ‘Part One’. It was great to see him tell Ace that they’re “Cybermen” when they come out of their spaceship. He emphasises to her how deadly they can be when they kill their minions. 😐

There are scenes clearly indicated in the story on how Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor is a chess player. This is when he and Ace visit Lady Peinforte’s house in 1638 and there’s a chess game being played between him and some unseen opponent throughout the tale.

It’s not quite clear what the relationship between the Seventh Doctor and Lady Peinforte is and how she knows him. I’m also not entirely sure whether it’s an earlier incarnation of the Doctor that Lady Peinforte met all them years ago in 1638 or if it’s the current one.

It was tense when it seemed that Lady Peinforte was about to reveal the Doctor’s greatest secret unless he gave her the statue. The Doctor is silent throughout the exchange between Lady Peinforte and Ace when asking her about the Doctor’s identity.

Lady Peinforte: Doctor who? Have you never wondered where he came from, who he is?
Ace: Nobody knows who the Doctor is.
Lady Peinforte: Except me.

Again, how exactly Lady Peinforte knows who the Doctor is never explained, as that’s another mystery left unresolved. Thankfully, the Doctor has it all sorted out by giving the Cybermen the Nemesis statue, which ultimately destroys the Cyber fleet in outer space.

Incidentally, it turns out that Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor can do bird noises when trying to hide his and Ace’s presence from Cyber-controlled humans guarding the Cybermen’s spaceship. Who would’ve thought it? And the Doctor and Ace get to enjoy doing a whistle together.

Sophie Aldred is equally great as Ace in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. I like how comfortable she is as a TARDIS traveller by this point in the TV series, as she clearly enjoys being in the Doctor’s company and having these adventures with him to fight evil.

I found it fascinating to discover from the ‘Industrial Action’ making-of documentary that the Cybermen scared Sophie when she was a kid. So much so that her mum stopped her watching any more ‘Doctor Who’. 😀 This story was Sophie’s chance to get her ‘revenge’. 😀

I greatly enjoyed the action-packed stuff that goes on for Ace in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, particularly when she fights against the Cybermen with gold coins using a catapult. As much as I hate the gold thing with Cybermen (more later), Ace using a catapult is cool. 🙂

Ace running along a walkway and ending up confronting Cybermen is pretty exciting. Sophie Aldred recollects having a bone to pick with director Chris Clough on how high that walkway was. It does look pretty high up, but very impressive for the action sequence.

I wouldn’t have thought Sophie was afraid of heights when she did that scene, as she seems very confident when playing her character as Ace. Plus, in her scene with the Cybermen on the walkway, she’s very lucky in utilising a catapult with one piece of gold.

Ace also gets to blow up a Cyber spaceship using her Nitro-9. I found it funny in the conversation between Ace and the Doctor when he asks her if she had any Nitro-9 on her. He knows full well that she’s carrying explosives all the time, despite his instructions.

Doctor: I don’t suppose you’ve completely ignored my instructions and secretly prepared any Nitro 9, have you?
Ace: What if I had?
Doctor: Naturally you wouldn’t do anything so insanely dangerous as to carry it around with you, would you?
Ace: Of course not. I’m a good girl. I do what I’m told.
Doctor: Excellent. Blow up that vehicle.

Like in ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ when asking about the Hand of Omega, Ace asks the Doctor questions about the Nemesis statue and his history with it. She also asks the Doctor about who he is by the time the story ends, since his identity remains a mystery.

Interestingly, there happens to be a portrait of Ace in Windsor Castle in the extended versions of the story, both Special Editions and VHS. Apparently, this is something that happens in Ace’s future. I’m not sure if this is properly resolved in a Big Finish audio drama.

Say, here’s something amusing to mention. When the Doctor and Ace visit the vault beneath Windsor Castle, they come across a fez that both wear at certain points in ‘Part One’ of the story. This certainly predates Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor wearing a fez. 😀

Fiona Walker guest stars as Lady Peinforte. This isn’t Fiona Walker’s first foray into ‘Doctor Who’. She previously played Kala in ‘The Keys of Marinus’ with William Hartnell. She’s different in that story, but she still had the edge of villainy to the character she played.

Lady Peinforte happens to be a sorceress who wants the Nemesis statue so badly. She’s also a poisoner as well as a cavalier. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that in her clothes. 😀 She’s very cruel when she has her Mathematician killed once he’s served his purpose. 😐

She also seems to be an expert on Cybermen when gold-tipped arrows drenched in poison to kill them off in 1988. How exactly does she know that when we’ve never seen her or mention knowing of Cybermen before? I feel like we’ve missed something there. 😐

And of course, Lady Peinforte has the means for her and her servant Richard to time-travel from Windsor in 1638 to Windsor in 1988. How exactly she’s able to do that is not properly explored. One assumes her conversations with the Doctor had something to it.

Lady Peinforte thinks very highly of herself and considers herself to be the most important person to have control of the Nemesis statue carved in her image. These illusions of grandeur make her seem go mad in ‘Part Three’, as she desires all power for herself. 😐

It’s a shock to her when she finds she wasn’t the one playing the game, but was the pawn in the Doctor’s game. She’s unwilling to accept failure in her ambitions that she ends up joining with the Nemesis statue before it goes into space to destroy the Cyber fleet.

Incidentally, Fiona Walker plays the Nemesis statue carved in Lady Peinforte’s image. That must have been a challenge for her to play a statue with a mask on her face. Mind you, she doesn’t play the statue in many scenes of the story, since it’s only in ‘Part Three’.

Gerard Murphy guest stars as Richard Maynard, Lady Peinforte’s servant in the story. Gerard Murphy had a long association with the Royal Shakespeare Company before he went on to be in TV and film. In 2005, he played a corrupt judge in the film ‘Batman Begins’.

And who knew he was the narrator of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ BBC radio series in 1981. He’s very different as a narrator compared to playing Richard in ‘Silver Nemesis’. Sadly, Gerard Murphy passed away in 2013, which I’ve just found out about for this updated review.

It was fun to see how Lady Peinforte and Richard work as a double act in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. It’d be very easy to mistake Richard as being simpleton when in the employ of Lady Peinforte. Far from it. Richard comes across as fiercely loyal to his lady.

But he’s not like Lady Peinforte in wanting to seek power. When he and Lady Peinforte arrive in 1988, he’s flummoxed by everything that goes on, including seeing policemen talking into their mobile phones and llamas that happen to walk on the Windsor estate.

Richard also happens to be a kind-hearted man. This is an irony considering he was once a hardened criminal who had been found guilty of a great number of offences. Even Lady Peinforte claims Richard to a better person than she is when he saved her life.

Lady Peinforte: I understand not.
Richard: What’s to understand?
Lady Peinforte: Always I have treated you badly. I have done you no service, shown you no kindness, and yet you risk your life to save me. Why so?
Richard: Should I not?
Lady Peinforte: I do not live in the world of what should. But you’re a good man, Richard, and I am evil.

Some of the comedic moments featuring Richard are hilarious, including the “They will eat us!” line once he sees the llamas. Even when Richard and Lady Peinforte hitch a lift with Dolores Gray’s character in her car, there are funny moments in their exchanges. 🙂

Richard’s defining moment is probably at the story’s end when he saves the Doctor by stabbing the Cyber Leader with a gold-tipped arrow. Richard is melancholy on how he should live his life in 1988. Thankfully, the Doctor and Ace offer him a lift back to 1638. 🙂

Let’s talk about the neo-Nazis for a bit. Some of you might be surprised that neo-Nazism is a thing, especially considering the Nazis were defeated in the Second World War. But the thing is, groups of neo-Nazism were formed even after Germany had surrendered. 😐

The group of neo-Nazis we see in ‘Silver Nemesis’ is an example of one that moved to South America, which I didn’t even know was a thing. In my research, it’s shocking neo-Nazism is still present around the world, including Europe and many parts of the USA. 😐

To give you an example, there was a group called the Hammerskins formed in the 1980s that, unfortunately, based their name on a scene from the 1982 film ‘Pink Floyd – The Wall’. Not that I’ve seen the film in full, but it’s disturbing to find that influence was evident.

With that said, I found it exciting to see Nazi-like characters in a ‘Doctor Who’ story and it was fascinating to see that the neo-Nazis wanted the Nemesis statue too. How they knew about the statue in the first place is a mystery, but you’ll find this a running theme.

It was fun to see the intense battle scenes going on between the neo-Nazis and the Cybermen in ‘Part Two’ of the story. As well as intense, they’re very action-packed and possibly serve as the best part of the story. I wish we had more of those scenes in this. 🙂

It was interesting to see De Flores and Karl meeting up with the Cybermen and they attempted to make an alliance with them. Honestly, I would have been on board with that, had ‘Silver Nemesis’ been made as a four-parter instead to accommodate that alliance.

The reason why I say that is because the alliance is over too quickly when De Flores and Karl find the Nemesis statue buried in a crypt and the Cyber Leader comes up behind them. It’s like the story idea being formed in one moment got discarded way too quickly.

The concept of Nazis and Cybermen working together is very appealing to me. I would love it if they did a ‘Doctor Who’ story where Hitler met the Cybermen during the Second World War and formed an alliance with them, making the Nazis really deadlier threats. 😐

I’m pretty sure it’d be far more impressive compared to what we were given with Hitler being seen briefly and locked away in a cupboard in ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’. Terrance Dicks wrote ‘Doctor Who’ books featuring Hitler, including ‘The Shadow of the Glass’ and ‘Timewryn: Exodus’.

Hopefully they’re better compared to what’s in ‘Let’s Kill Hitler‘. Anyway, going back on topic, the point I’m trying to make is that the neo-Nazis aren’t exactly effective as villains compared to Lady Peinforte, as they suffer in the same way as the Cybermen do.

Although, from what I’ve read in the DVD sleeve notes, it’s interesting how three factions of evil are presented in this TV adventure. The neo-Nazis represent fascism, Lady Peinforte represents superstition and blackmail, and the Cybermen represent dehumanisation. 😐

Those are kind-of themes that are meant to echo the celebratory aspect of the 25th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’, especially when you consider these are three forms of evil that the Doctor is opposed to. But again, this is really subtle that you might not notice it.

With this said, the performances of the neo-Nazis are very good. There’s Anton Diffring as De Flores, joined by his comrade Metin Yenal as Karl. If Anton Diffring is a name you don’t recognise, he was a German actor who did World War II films and horror movies. 🙂

Primarily, he often played Nazi officers in World War II films like ‘The Colditz Story’ in 1952. It’s funny that Sylvester McCoy recalled in the ‘Industrial Action’ making-of documentary that Anton Diffring grumbled a bit about playing another Nazi in his career. 😀

Also, as it turned out, Anton Diffring only agreed to be in ‘Silver Nemesis’ because he wanted to watch the Wimbledon tennis on TV in his hotel room. 😀 And that’s not exaggerating. He actually said that in the 1988 ‘Silver Nemesis’ making-of documentary.

From seeing how De Flores looks in ‘Silver Nemesis’, you could easily mistake him for having a similar dress sense as Tobias Vaughn from ‘The Invasion’. Honestly, if De Flores was a relative of Tobias Vaughn from ‘The Invasion’, that would have been very exciting.

If De Flores was given the chance to control the Cybermen in ‘Silver Nemesis’, that would have been a lot of fun to play around with, especially if this was made as a four-parter instead of a three-parter. It could’ve made the following line of dialogue worthwhile.

De Flores: Now we… We are the supermen. But you… You are the giants.

I found the Cybermen very good in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. Granted, they’re rather sidelined and not the main villains of ‘Silver Nemesis’ as one would expect them to be. But I’m glad to see them in this story and this is a decent Cybermen story compared to others.

As you can see, these are like the ‘Earthshock’ Cybermen, except they’ve been redecorated and are far more silver than ever. It’s actually great that the Cybermen were chosen to be the familiar ‘Doctor Who’ monsters for this silver anniversary TV adventure.

The Cybermen include the Cyber Leader, played by David Banks, as well as the Cyber Lieutenant, played by Mark Hardy, and a Cyberman played by Brian Orrell. These guys have been in many Cybermen stories in the 1980s with David Banks being in all of them.

It’s not exactly clear how the Cybermen know about the Nemesis statue and about Lady Peinforte. Presumably, they’ve done their research, especially when you consider their presence on Earth is already established, as they have two victims under their control. 😐

This includes Johnny Ould and Dave Ould as…’Walkman slaves’, as they’re credited on TARDIS wiki? However they’re credited, it’s clear they’re under Cyber control when wearing those headsets. How they’re under the Cybermen’s control in this story isn’t explained.

A thing that excited me about the Special Edition version of ‘Silver Nemesis’, both the three-part version and the omnibus edition, is that there are Cybermats in the story. They’re not in the original and not the extended VHS versions of the story. I found this unexpected.

This is an improvement on the scene in ‘Part One’ where the policemen arrive to inspect the crashed meteor containing the Nemesis statue, as they were originally gassed by a silver periscope pushing up through the soil. Seeing the Cybermats is very refreshing. 🙂

Mind you, with that said, there’s one thing that really annoys me about the Cybermen in this story, and it’s the fact that gold is used as a weapon again. I’ve said this in other reviews, but I really hate the idea of gold being used as a weapon to kill the Cybermen. 🙂

It may be effective for Ace to use a catapult to fire gold coins into a Cyberman’s chest unit, but I find this method of defeating the Cybermen way too easy. I consider this a very bad idea by Gerry Davis when he introduced it in ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ in 1975.

Having gold to defeat the Cybermen doesn’t make them more terrifying. It makes them less intimidating when you consider that’s the easy way to beat them. Even gold arrows dipped in poison didn’t do it for me. I cringe every time gold is used to defeat the Cybermen.

It was a relief for me when in ‘The Power of the Doctor’, the Cybermen had found a way to overcome their vulnerability to gold. When I hear a scene like the Fifth Doctor trying to weaken a Cyberman by using gold in ‘Spare Parts’ and it doesn’t work, it fills me with joy.

The idea of the Cybermen is for them to be unstoppable and intimidating no matter what. By having the Cybermen be vulnerable to gold makes them less terrifying. Honestly, overwhelming Cybermen with emotions is far better than giving them gold. 🙂

It’s better when the emotion inhibitors in the Cybermen in ‘The Age of Steel’ are switched off to allow the metal monsters to feel what they’d lost and it makes you empathise for them before you die. You don’t get that with throwing gold in their chests.

And look, if gold is meant to be an effective weapon against the Cybermen, I’d appreciate that if the TV series found time to explain why gold would be effective as a weapon. I still think it’d make the Cybermen less threatening, but at least it’d be appreciated.

I can see it working to cause Cybermen to suffocate or cause combustion, but the TV series – both classic and new – doesn’t go into great detail as to why gold would be effective as a weapon. At least, I can’t recall a vivid explanation when thinking about it. 😐

I don’t think it’s in ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ nor ‘Silver Nemesis’ nor ‘Nightmare In Silver’. I also can’t recall it in the ‘Doctor Who’/‘Star Trek’ crossover comic story ‘Assimilation²‘. Like the Borg, I’m glad the Cybermen have adapted to gold very recently.

I enjoyed seeing the Cybermen spaceship shots in the Special Edition versions of the story – both the three-part and omnibus versions. It was exciting to see the Cybermen spaceship land at the end of ‘Part One’, interrupting the Doctor, Ace and the Neo-Nazis.

That moment where the Cybermen march out of the spaceship with Keff McCulloch’s catchy incidental musical accompanying it was exciting and thrilling to see. You couldn’t have asked for a better scene to end ‘Part One’ on a cliffhanger with the Cybermen.

The original visual effects of the Cybermen spaceship shots are good in the original three-part and the extended VHS versions. But the Special Edition CGI versions of those shots are better, considering there are improvements and no dodgy lines on the shots. 🙂

In ‘Silver Nemesis’, jazz music happens to be a key theme in the story. I like jazz music and so does my dad. So does Kevin Clarke the writer. 😀 Therefore, it’s very fitting that this ‘Doctor Who’ TV story should happen to feature Courtney Pine and his Jazz Quartet in it.

Now I can’t claim to know Courtney Pine and his Jazz Quartet that well, but from what I’ve seen in the sequence featuring them performing a jazz gig to an audience, including the Doctor and Ace, and with it being in the sunshine, it feels very satisfying and relaxing.

It was interesting to hear from Sylvester’s Doctor that Courtney Pine’s music is his favourite kind of jazz. In the extended scenes in the three-part Special Edition version, Sylvester makes a reference to Louis Armstrong and says that jazz music ‘will survive’.

Apparently, Courtney Pine is a ‘Doctor Who’ fan, so it’s nice that he agreed on Kevin Clarke’s request to be in ‘Silver Nemesis’. I wish we could have seen more of Courtney Pine in the story. I’m sure he would have been essential in helping to thwart the Cybermen.

In fact, Ace recorded Courtney Pine’s music on a cassette tape so that she can play it on her new tape-deck (or boombox, however you want to call it) to disrupt the Cybermen’s transmissions to their fleet in outer space. It was nice seeing those scenes.

Mind you, it was interesting to see from the Special Edition omnibus edition that the scenes of Ace and the Doctor disrupting the Cybermen’s transmissions to their fleet in outer space by using Courtney Pine’s music were omitted. I would have keep them in. 😐

The Queen also makes an appearance in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. Except, not really. It’s someone who’s a lookalike of Queen Elizabeth II and she’s played by Mary Reynolds. She has a fleeting cameo in this TV story when the Doctor and Ace visit Windsor Castle.

It’s a funny moment to watch, especially when Ace has the Doctor hide from the Queen and her corgis. Apparently, in the three-part Special EditIon version of the story, Ace is heard telling the Doctor that “It’s the Queen”, whereas she didn’t say in the original TV version.

Nor in the extended VHS version. I’m not sure if that was newly-recorded by Sophie Aldred for the three-part Special Edition version of the story. It was probably best not to include it in the three-part Special Edition version, as I found it a lot funnier without it.

Apparently, producer John Nathan-Turner wrote a letter to Prince Edward (that’s the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip), asking him if he would like to appear in ‘Silver Nemesis’. He declined. It turned out the Queen stopped him doing so. 😐

It’s a shame really, but then again, it was pretty ambitious for JNT to go to those lengths when he wanted royalty to be a theme in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. Even when the Queen appeared in ‘Voyage of the Damned’, she was voiced by Jessica Martin in that TV story. 😀

Apparently, the ‘Doctor Who’ production team didn’t film at Windsor Castle for the story. Arundel Castle doubled for Windsor Castle. I can’t say I’ve visited Windsor Castle, but I’m sure Arundel and Windsor are similar in terms of design that it’s hard to notice a difference.

It also turns out that several figures from the history of ‘Doctor Who’ appeared as tourists in the story when the Doctor and Ace visited Windsor Castle. Honestly, you’d have to be very eagle-eyed in knowing who’s who in the special selection of ‘Doctor Who’ cameos.

This included Kevin Clarke himself, director Andrew Morgan, writer Graeme Curry, director Fiona Cumming, director Peter Moffatt, production manager Ian Fraser, actress Kathleen Bidmead, actress Pat Worth, actress Sally Anne Messe, and Nicholas Courtney!

Yes, apparently, Nicholas Courtney (who played the Brigadier in ‘Doctor Who’) cameoed as one of the tourists at Windsor. Not that I was able to spot him, because it was so difficult to see him among the other tourists. I did spot Fiona Cumming in some shots. 🙂

Also, Vere Lorimer was the tour guide at Windsor Castle, I believe. If you don’t know who that is, Vere Lorimer was a producer and director on ‘Blake’s 7’. Honestly, I wouldn’t have guessed that he was in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, as I’ve only found out from doing my research.

Leslie French who plays the Mathematician in Lady Peinforte’s employ in ‘Part One’ of the story is an interesting casting choice. Apparently, he was one of the original actors considered for the role of the First Doctor before William Hartnell was chosen instead. 🙂

Now, some of you probably wouldn’t have known that, and it’s quite a rare decision to cast someone who was originally considered for the role of the First Doctor to be in the 25th anniversary story. But hey, it’s a nice casting choice and I’m glad that he’s in this. 🙂

There are also the skinheads, played by Chris Chering and Symond Lawes. I found these two baffling, especially when they confronted Lady Peinforte and Richard for money. The way they confronted them is very odd, as they assumed them to be ‘social workers’.

There’s one more cast member to mention and that’s Dolores Gray as Mrs. Remington. For those who don’t know, Dolores Gray was a famous American actress and singer. I can’t say I know her that well, as I haven’t seen many of the films that she’s been in.

I think she’s more well-known for her stage work. Regardless, I found the character she played rather redundant in ‘Silver Nemesis’. This isn’t helped by the fact that Dolores Gray could only do one day of filming when she agreed to make an appearance in this. 😐

I believe her character is meant to be a descendant of Dorethea Remington whom Lady Peinforte poisoned. But frankly, the scenes that Mrs. Remington has in ‘Part Three’ of the story don’t go anywhere in the conversations she has with Lady Peinforte and Richard. 😐

It’s clear those scenes are meant for comic relief, even when Lady Peinforte and Richard hitch a ride with Dolores Gray’s character in her limousine. I would have cut out those scenes since they slow down the story involving the Nemesis statue and Cybermen.

In fact, the Special Edition omnibus version of the story doesn’t include Dolores Gray, which is quite a relief when watching it. I’m sure it must have been fun to have had Dolores Grey appear in ‘Doctor Who’. But narratively, it doesn’t really serve much of a purpose. 😐

The story ends with the Nemesis statue destroying the Cyber fleet in space and Richard killing the Cyber Leader with a gold-tipped arrow. The Doctor and Ace return Richard to 1638 where they’re entertained to a concert performed by him and a Stuart woman.

Ace asks the Doctor who he really is, but he just puts a finger to his lips whilst listening to the music. Incidentally, I think this predates how Steven Moffat would go about things in Matt Smith’s era, particularly in ‘Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2013.

Throughout the story, the Nemesis statue seems reliant on a mysterious bow and arrow that gives it life, apparently. I’m not sure how that bow and arrow came into being, but like most things featured in ‘Silver Nemesis’ in TV form, it doesn’t get explained much. 😐

The original DVD special features were as follows. There was the making-of documentary called ‘Industrial Action’, featuring behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew. There were deleted and extended scenes from the story to enjoy, BBC trailers and continuity announcements of the story, and a photo gallery of the story. There was a dual mono sound audio mix option for the story, a 5.1 surround sound audio mix option of the story, an audio commentary with Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, script editor Andrew Cartmel and director Chris Clough, and an isolated music option by Keff McCulloch to enjoy. There was an info-text commentary option to enjoy, PDF materials including a ‘Radio Times Listings’ of the story, and a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘Time and the Rani’, starring Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford (which is now included on Disc 4 of the Season 23 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’ containing ‘The Ultimate Foe’ segment of ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’).

On Disc 5 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 25’ Blu-ray, the original three-part 1998 TV version of the story, the ‘Industrial Action’ making-of documentary, the deleted and extended scenes, the dual mono sound audio mix option, the 5.1 surround sound audio mix option, the audio commentary and the isolated music option can be found on there. The BBC trailers and continuity announcements, the photo gallery and the info-text commentary option have been updated for 2024 on the Blu-ray.

The new special features on Blu-ray include a brand-new CGI effects option for the original three-part 1988 TV version of the story to enjoy, the 1988 making-of documentary for ‘Silver Nemesis’ produced by the US New Jersey Network featuring behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew, and the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘Silver Nemesis’ with Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor), Mark Hardy (the Cyber Lieutenant) and Sophie Aldred (Ace) as well as Janet Fielding (Tegan), Wendy Padbury (Zoe) and Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) as well as Bonnie Langford (Mel) and Nicola Bryant (Peri). There’s the ‘Andrew Cartmel: In Conversation’ interview conducted by Matthew Sweet, an ‘Open Air’ item, a ‘Behind the Screen’ item, and a ‘Points of View’ item. There’s also a interview with producer John Nathan-Turner, an interview with director Chris Clough, and an interview with make-up artist Dorka Nieradzik, all recorded specifically for the 1988 making-of documentary for ‘Silver Nemesis’ produced by the US New Jersey Network. There’s a ’50th Anniversary Archive’ interview with Sophie Aldred, and a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’, starring Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred (taken from ‘The Krotons’ DVD).

On the PDF front, as well as the ‘Radio Times Listings’ of ‘Silver Nemesis’, there are production documents, visual effects design sketches, a document on the extended VHS release of ‘Silver Nemesis’, draft scripts for ‘Parts One and Two’, two rehearsal scripts for ‘Part One’, a rehearsal script for ‘Part Two’, two rehearsal scripts for ‘Part Three’, and three transmission camera scripts.

On Disc 6 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 25’ Blu-ray, the new special features include the three-part Special Edition version of the story, featuring new CGI effects and some of the deleted and extended scenes from the story, and it can be seen in a dual mono sound audio mix option and a 5.1 surround sound audio mix option. There’s the 55-minute Special Edition omnibus version of the story and the three-part extended VHS version of the story from 1993. There’s some location footage from the making of the story to enjoy, and there are deleted scenes from the three-part Special Edition version of the story to enjoy.

I consider ‘Silver Nemesis’ to be a lovely ‘Doctor Who’ story featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace, along with Cybermen, neo-Nazis, Lady Peinforte and Richard to celebrate 25 years of the TV series. It’s a fun, action-packed adventure that I’m sure many people will enjoy. 🙂

It’s a flawed story. There’s no doubt about that. And whilst it’s not a match on previous anniversary stories like ‘The Three Doctors’ and ‘The Five Doctors’, it’s arguably better than others. 🙂 It features a unique concept by writer Kevin Clarke on who the Doctor could be.

In terms of viewing ‘Silver Nemesis’ along with ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ in the DVD box set it came in in 2010, I found them an enjoyable collection of Cybermen stories featuring the Fourth and Seventh Doctors. I have happy memories checking them out.

It wasn’t the best collection of Cybermen stories in ‘Doctor Who’, but I found them worth adding to the ‘Doctor Who’ collection I was keeping at the time. And I certainly found ‘Silver Nemesis’ a better Cybermen story compared to ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’.

I’m glad there are four versions of the story to check out in the Season 25 Blu-ray box set, including the original three-part TV story, the three-part Special Edition version, the 55-minute Special Edition omnibus version and the three-part extended VHS version. 🙂

That’s like quadruple whammy, isn’t it? 😀 When I saw ‘Silver Nemesis’ on DVD, I greatly enjoyed it. But having hearing about the extended VHS version of the story, I wanted to see it, should ‘Silver Nemesis’ ever be re-released in a new 2-disc DVD set or a Blu-ray set.

I wasn’t expecting there to be four versions of the story in the Season 25 Blu-ray box set. Even though I’ve raised issues about the story, the extra scenes in the three-part Special Edition version and the three-part extended VHS version do provide more clarity for me.

In fact, it’s great that most of the stories in Sylvester McCoy’s era have been given extended versions in various forms in the Blu-ray box sets from Seasons 24 to 26. I’m looking forward to watching the Special Edition version of the final TV story of Season 25.

‘Silver Nemesis’ rating – 8/10

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